We are continuing with our “A Day in The Life” series that showcases what its like to work in various roles at Beem. In this article we’ll be featuring Hashim Karim, one of our Technical Support Agent. Read on as he talks us through his typical working day, the best parts of this job role and how he handles the pressure whenever there is high volume of works from various demanding clients and customers.
1.What’s a typical day in the life of a Technical Support Agent?
My day starts by performing a status check of our platforms as well as the testing devices we use for different services. I carry out some internal tests on the devices and review performance. Afterwards, I proceed with reviewing all queries that were raised by our clients on different communication platforms (Skype, phone, Whatsapp and emails, support tickets) and internally on Slack pending from the previous evening. Thereafter, I investigate the issues and escalate accordingly where needed to mobile operators.
For the rest of the day, I am on standby to attend to any technical support issues that are raised by customers. Some of these issues are resolved very quickly and others need more time. At the end of the day I do a summary review for the team, this means reviewing performance of all transactions that day as well as all the issues that may have occurred and/or any other on-going technical issues. This is shared internally with the sales and support team so they can act on this as necessary.
2.What is the best part of your job, the part that makes you come back to the office the next day?
In finding solutions to technical issues there are few cases that need time to resolve and demand input of different ideas to come up with a complete resolution.These cases are like solving a puzzle and in the process it’s a learning adventure everyday, and to me it’s the surprise element in this adventure that keeps the work interesting and gives me energy to come and do it everyday.
3.Being a support professional can get quite demanding. How do you handle a high volume of work?
I would say it’s prioritizing the reported issues based on impact and time, every issue is important but there are certain critical issues that need immediate attention. I usually start by resolving these cases, and that would help relieve the pressure on me. Thereafter, I would plan and attend to cases while observing time and being attentive to any real-time request that comes in.
4.What have you learnt?
Before you get into any deep thinking and analysis, common sense solves half of the problem at hand. Also, this is teamwork and in order for the team to excel, precise communication is vital.
5.What attributes/skills make a Technical Support Agent successful?
Well rounded in terms of IT/Tele-communication, you have to be able to handle pressure and have patience, communication skills are vital.
6.What kind of education and experiences did you need prior to starting your current job?
The IT Technical, communication skills and telecommunication knowledge I covered at school were important for me while starting this job.The daily activities that I perform as a technical support agent were new but definitely the experience from different internships I did before helped me settle faster.
7.In what ways do you think you add value and have an impact on the overall business?
As a technical support agent, I act as a bridge, I translate the technical aspects of the services to a dimension where it makes it easy for the business team to communicate to the clients. I create an experience for the customer that turns their mentality from a supporter/roamer to a FAN of the service by attending to technical issues and providing solutions whenever they have a concern.
8.As an IT support professional, you know it’s vital that you troubleshoot problems quickly. What’s your troubleshooting process?
I go through a problem to make sure I understand the context and then gather more details to identify a specific hypothesis in mind and to eliminate variables, then I replicate the scenario to prove my hypothesis and that would get me to the root cause. When I find the root cause, I apply a fix and replicate the issue once again to verify if it’s actually resolved. If the results are indeed positive, I proceed with communicating the same to the concerned parties.
9.What are some common misconceptions about Technical Support?
That being a technical support professional only needs the technical understanding of the matter at hand to resolve problems. While that is true, you need to have an insight of different fields in order to tackle the task at hand efficiently including good communication skills and general knowledge of the business that you are working with.
Parting short statement
A positive mindset is important in every task that I perform, I try to work on this everyday. There are times when tasks can be overwhelming but at that specific moment is when I learn more. This doesn’t end at work only but also in other activities in life. So I would advise everyone to stay positive and enjoy what they are doing, while trying to settle your score you should keep in mind everything BIG starts SMALL.
